![]() ![]() The other type is a confined aquifer that has an aquitard above and below it.Ĭross section of what the water table looks like as a line. An unconfined aquifer is one that does not have an aquitard above it but usually does below it. It is especially important to ensure that recharge is clean and uncontaminated or the entire aquifer could become polluted. Aquifers are replenished when surface water infiltrates through the ground and refills the pore spaces in the aquifer. However, overpumping can easily reduce the amount of water in an aquifer and cause it to dry up. Aquifers allows us to recover groundwater by pumping quickly and easily. Good examples of aquifers are glacial till or sandy soils which have both high porosity and high permeability. That means that all it is simply a layer of soil or rock that has a reasonably high porosity and permeability that allows it to contain water and transfer it from pore to pore relatively quickly and all of the pore spaces are filled with water. By squeezing that sponge we force the water out, similarly, by pumping an aquifer we force the water out of pore spaces.Īquifer: An aquifer is a term for a type of soil or rock that can hold and transfer water that is completely saturated with water. All of the holes in that sponge are water-filled. ![]() Generally speaking groundwater exists in the pore spaces between grains of soil and rocks. ![]() Many see large underground lakes and rivers, and while those do exist, they represent an infinitesimally small percentage of all groundwater. However, there are still lots of misconceptions about how people envision groundwater. The branch of geology that researches groundwater is called hydrogeology and is still a relatively new sector of the geological sciences.Īs I have already mentioned groundwater exists underground. Groundwater is an extremely important resource for industry, drinking water and other applications, however, it is generally quite poorly understood. It is the opposite of surface water, which exists on the surface of the Earth such as lakes, rivers and oceans. As the name implies groundwater is simply water that exists underground. ![]()
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